Project Sydney: Youngsters bring down the house

STUDENTS as young as 13 said they were already worried about house prices and wanted schools to start teaching them “real life” skills.

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STUDENTS as young as 13 said they were already worried about house prices and wanted schools to start teaching them “real life” skills as they grilled the NSW Premier yesterday.

High school, TAFE and university students didn’t let Gladys Berejiklian off easy at The Daily Telegraph’s youth forum, at Western Sydney University, pressing her on everything from unemployment to climate change.

The event, which was hosted by Channel Seven presenter Michael Usher and moderated by The Daily Telgraph’s state politcal editor Andrew Clennell, was a hit with more than 15,000 people tuning in to watch the live streams.

Property proved a hot topic, with just two students putting their hands up when they were asked if they thought they’d ever be able to afford a home.

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These students want to learn real life skills.

Ms Berejiklian told the audience she was hopeful her new stamp duty measures, which give first-home buyers discounts on stamp duty on properties up to $800,000, would help more young people enter the market.

But she also told the students they needed to think about getting their foot in the door, rather than buying their dream home.

“Once you’re in the market you don’t mind if housing prices goes up,” she said.

“Your first place isn’t always going to be your best place”.

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But Merrylands High School’s Ricardo Fernandez, 13, afterwards told The Daily Telegraph he was still worried: “Prices keep increasing.”

Ms Berejiklian also revealed she would be speaking to Education Minister Adrian Piccoli to ensure schools were doing enough to push practical life skills after student Paniora Nukunuku, 23, revealed he became homeless at 17. He said he graduated from school but didn’t know how to fill out basic tax forms.

Ms Berejiklian said she agreed life skills should be taught in schools.

“I think there is opportunities for us to better prepare people for what they’re going to face when they leave school and I’m certainly going to speak with the Education Minister about what we’re doing and if that’s not enough I would like to see that addressed,” she said.

“When I finished school I was in the same boat to an extent, because ( I wasn’t taught) basic things like filling out a tax return or getting insurance on a car, basic things I hadn’t been exposed to previously .”

Natasha Lay, western Sydney coordinator at Youth Action said: “It was good for the Premier to hear from young people’s mouths about what they want the state government to do. It was a good start to have that conversation”.